Personal Ad: Virgin author seeks Long Term Relationship w/ Experienced and Worldly ReviewerThis was the subject line I found sitting in my inbox one night. How was I supposed to pass up a peak at that one, right? The email goes on to say that she isn't looking for an exclusive relationship, long distance/ cyber is great, no need for walks on the beach or wine by the fire. That is how I met the wonderful K.D. McLean, so of course I agreed to review her first book, The Story of Rachel.Rachel is a thirty something, clean cut, somewhat goodie-two-shoes journalist and divorcee looking to love again. Michael is a forty something, somewhat kinky, somewhat successful author and divorcee not looking for love again. The two meet at a BDSM art exhibit, Rachel on assignment and totally naive to this world, Michael on a night out and seemingly quite comfortable with this world; but there is an undeniable connection and they are both ready to explore that attraction.Rachel shows an eagerness to learn more of the Dominance/ Submissive side of life and Michael is more than willing to master her. This is where my first hiccup occurred with The Story of Rachel. I know very little (okay, absolutely nothing) about BDSM or D/s or however you state it. However, I didn't believe that Michael had any history in this. Yes, he is a member of Pandora, an exclusive sex club and there is history shown of him actually going there. But I just didn't feel a real commitment to him being a Dom. On Rachel's end I didn't get that commitment either but she's new and learning so that seemed more natural to me. Again, I am far from an expert here so I may be completely off base. Perhaps this is exactly how it is supposed to be and I just expected, well, more.My other hiccup would be how clean The Story of Rachel feels in contrast to the content of it. That probably doesn't make sense, let me explain. In my head, BDSM is a kinky thing, not the norm. The Story of Rachel gives us two characters who are very straight laced in every day life, almost stodgy. When they moved into the Dom/Sub roles I wanted them to let go of the real life people and fully emerge into the kink. You know? They stayed too straight laced for me and failed to make the role play feel as exciting as I expected it to be. Stodgy may be bit much, they aren't overly dull and there is much talk about how funny they are, though it is a mature humor and I feel it made them feel older than they are. That is my issue though and others may actually like this better. Maybe I just have a dirty mind to match my dirty mouth.The title is The Story of Rachel but I feel more like it was Michael's story and I am glad for that. His story was filled with deeper emotion. His healing and growth process throughout was really what kept me invested in the story. Aside from these issues, the story is interesting. Especially the club Pandora and the other characters introduced there. McLean will be writing more about some of these characters in the future of the series and I hope to see Pandora explored more in those titles.
